Prior to our game against UVA in 1990...

AE 87

AE 87

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GlennW said:
Cautiously optimistic, perhaps, which sounds like a lot of Tech fans who have gotten "stung" in the past after great seasons. From my perspective, the way that I look at it is that this will be the third year the players will be under Ted Roof as Defensive Coordinator, so they should be playing more reactive and fast rather than having to think so much, and we've pretty much cycled trough all of Al Groh's players so those who were brought in to play the 3-4 exclusively are gone, or re-purposed in new positions and re-shaped so they could meet the needs of the new spot.

Also, as just mentioned, we are coming in with more defensive experience and depth than we've had since Paul Johnson has been Head Coach. IF they can regain that Top 25 Defensive stature starting off the season, it will really help the Offense get the new WR's and Backs acclimated to games that count.
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No. I'm not reacting this way because of being stung in the past. I'm reacting this way because we were historically bad on D last year, beyond imo talent issues. For the year, we were #111 in pts/dr allowed, #114 in 3rd down conv allowed, #111 in yds/play allowed.

We were good with turnovers, 3 each from nc state, cu and georgie with 2 each from uva and miss st to end the year, but I'm not sure we schemed to set up georgie for two fumbles on the one.

We didn't get any turnovers from FSU, and they averaged more than 4 pts/drive. For the year, they averaged 2.67.

FSU was able to get their best receiver on Smith all night. Their star tight end got free almost at will. I don't know if that's because CPJ insisted on going vanilla or if Roof didn't make adjustments.

So, yeah, it's great that we get turnovers, but that's not the measure of a good DC, imo.

In the ACC vs ACC, we were #13 in ypp allowed, #14 in passing ypg, #13 in comp%, #13 ypp, #12 passer rating allowed.

Using per game stats and our domination of bad offense from uva and cu doesn't change the reality of a lot of questions on D.
 
GlennW

GlennW

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Skeptic said:
I am feebly attempting a do-over because my first response was way more abrupt, even dismissive, and that was not what I intended, so I apologize. It added nothing to the discussion. So yes, we have to show something this season, no question. While I recognize we improved in some areas and games -- who could complain about the second half of FSU? And while Georgia did score to go ahead in regulation, it was 4th down, which is something, and we did get that OT pick; I agree that MSU's yardage was mostly in the middle of the field but it was 600+ yards (and I might be in the minority, I just could not get exercised with Dak Prescott. I just couldn't and still can't. In our last three games we gave up 100 points, and while Clemson was an outstanding effort, who really thinks it would have been six points had Wilson had not been hurt early? In my mind it was going to go to a shootout at the end and while I thought we had the better team, it could have been 35-28 or so, pick 'em. I am not sure those picks would have happened with Wilson, but give the defense credit. They played very well.

I know the D is more experienced. Granted. But it seems to me a lot of hope is being put in Hunt-Days, both in that he will be eligible and that he will play at the level some good football people on the board think he is capable of. I just want to see both.

In n this era of faster offensive play and more plays, and more spreads and passing, what might pass for a dominant defense might be the one that holds teams to 21-24 points. If we get into that range we're going to win a lot of games. So what I was ineptly trying to say was that I hope the defense is better, I want it to be, and all those "ifs" put to rest". It has to be this season.
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Against UGA, the SEC Refs gave the Bulldogs 13 points (phantom TD on a recovered fumble they returned 99 yards for a TD and 2 blocked kicks) as well as took away a TD from us on that fumble returned for the TD. Against FSU, our Defense held them to NINE points the second half (we outscored the Seminoles), including their final FG we had a solid chance at intercepting a pass but just missed (and we only lost by 2 lousy points). Against Miss State, we did give up a ton of yards, but they were held in check until the end of the 1st half and then the end of the game (scoring wise).

Regarding Clemson, all I can say is that while it's true their QB was injured, that happened because of the style of play he prefers and the fact that OUR defense was prepared for him and the offensive play calling we were anticipating by Clemson's Offensive Coordinator. We jumped routes, etc. the entire game; the Defense was well prepared and if you look at the game as a whole, our Offense played much better against their Defense than most people give us credit for, especially after Snoddy was injured and the whole team could have frozen.

I truly believe that if we can avoid serious injuries next year, and our Defense can play like they did the final third of the season, we're looking at a Team that can challenge for a Championship.
 

takethepoints

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I don't know if we'll ever have a team with that kind of sheer talent again. One of the best OLs in Tech history, a great QB, the best DL we've ever had backed up with the best DB in our history (if Swilling hadn't gotten hurt, he'd have been a 3 year AA), all great.

But the absolute greatest: those WRs. Lester, Gilchrist, Merchant, Rodriguiez, Covington at TE: folks, we'll never see talent like that out there again, imho. Shoot, almost nobody ever had that good a lineup. The only college team I can think of with that kind of punch was USC when Lynn Swann was there.

Still, I remember turning to my friend after we won and saying that I would never have thought that we could win a shootout with the Hoos up there. It was the D, as it always was that year. Let's hope we get something like that next year.
 
Whiskey_Clear

Whiskey_Clear

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Uva lost an all American tight end the week before our game. If they hadn't? Only God knows. Thems the breaks. But uva was ravaged by injuries that year and ended up tanking down the stretch...and that hurt us tremendously. The UVA we beat was a top 5 team when we played them imo...after injuries...barely top 25 if that. Hurt our strength of schedule badly. If UVA had finished with only one loss...we might have played in the Orange.
 
Northeast Stinger

Northeast Stinger

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Whiskey_Clear said:
Uva lost an all American tight end the week before our game. If they hadn't? Only God knows. Thems the breaks. But uva was ravaged by injuries that year and ended up tanking down the stretch...and that hurt us tremendously. The UVA we beat was a top 5 team when we played them imo...after injuries...barely top 25 if that. Hurt our strength of schedule badly. If UVA had finished with only one loss...we might have played in the Orange.
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Agree so much. By the time UVA limped into their bowl game they were down most of their star players and still SEC champ Tennessee could only pull out a last second one point win over them.
 
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